


Have We Met?

by dreadfullypenny



Category: A Vast and Curious Universe (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, angsty gay TIME TRAVEL, gemryn, plus a little valik moment!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 07:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16635152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreadfullypenny/pseuds/dreadfullypenny
Summary: Short fic to go between episodes 22 and 23 of AVACU, in which Gema uses the Chronoscope one more time to travel back in time and watch herself and Catheryn meeting. She knows this isn't safe, but she misses Catheryn so much that she's willing to risk altering the fabric of time itself just for the chance to see her.





	Have We Met?

Chhhk. Chhhhhhhhk. Beeeeeeep. The Chronoscope was ready, and Gema already knew this was a mistake. 

She was going to do it anyway.

She rolled up one of the sleeves of her faded green overalls and got to work adjusting the various silver knobs and dials on the machine. She referred to her notes more times than was probably necessary, but she figured it was worth it because she knew that if she got her timing wrong by even a few seconds…well. She didn’t want to think about that.

Finally, after what seemed like years of micro-adjustments on the machine, she was done. She eased herself down onto the cold silver seat of it, marveling again at how much it felt like an uncanny sort of arm chair. She made a mental note to ask Catheryn about this when she came back. If she came back.

Sitting back in the chair for a moment, she looked out at the empty station. With Malik and Vance and Renna all off trying to repair the shuttle and Catheryn who knows where in the galaxy, the station had a curious sense of peace to it. No loud conversations echoing off the silver walls, no crew members slurping down space "cereal" and reading star maps at the table, no wide-eyed little Renna to listen to one of her stories about life on land, no Malik to chase Vance around the station, yelling at him about something unimportant in a transparent attempt to disguise his feelings for him, no Catheryn to-

No Catheryn.

She hit "GO."

Time travel never felt how she'd expected it would. She wanted it to feel big, exciting, impossible, fantastical. Instead, it felt a bit like riding a bike. Backwards. With your eyes closed. On a circular track. She'd never admit this to the crew she was always trying to impress, but it kind of made her want to throw up.

After a few excruciating seconds of this, she arrived.

After scanning the cloakroom she'd decided to land in to make sure it was empty - it was, aside from a few discarded blue uniforms and a chrome-colored robotic mop that was almost certainly broken - she slid out of the chair and reset its cloaking mechanism. She watched, half-smiling, as it faded into the shadowy recesses of the room. This was one part of time travel that definitely did live up to her expectations.

She was just about to set off into the station proper to search for that boring taupe hallway she remembered so well, when the door opened, and she had to dodge to keep it from hitting her in the face.

Standing in the doorway was- No. It couldn't be. It shouldn't be. But it was.

Catheryn.

Younger, still wearing the rather unflattering blue uniform of the United Continent. Her hair must've been washed recently and there was something in her eyes - something fresh, excited, new - that Gema hadn't seen for ages. She looked almost like a completely different person, and yet, there it was. That essential Catheryn-ness of her. Gema could hardly breathe. She'd timed this right, she knew she had. 

Catheryn was supposed to be walking down the hallway, humming, so that she could bump into that other long-gone Gema and then awkwardly introduce herself.

But here she was.

"...Hey." Catheryn's voice was a bit unsteady, so unlike the tough Captain-tone she used around the crew. "Do you know if there are, umm, extra uniforms back here? Mine got a little, uhh." She gestured at the sleek blue fabric of her uniform, and Gema finally noticed that one leg was covered in yellow paint. She almost laughed - of course this would happen to Catheryn - but then remembered where - when - she was.

She gestured to the uniforms on the wall, trying to jerk her head back into the shadows so that Catheryn wouldn't see her face.

"Thanks!" Catheryn grabbed one of the uniforms and seemed about to stop and ask Gema another question. Gema froze, then tried to look as unsociable as possible.

With a small shrug, Catheryn spun around and left, leaving the door open behind her. 

Gema closed the door and leaned back against it, breathing hard. 

Once her breathing had returned to normal, she jumped up and ran over to the Chronoscope. She studied the dials one more time, then realized her mistake. After all that work she'd done to make sure her trip was accurate to the minute, she'd accidentally got the month wrong.

Silently cursing herself, she moved to reset the dials to take her back to the station, then stopped.

It couldn't hurt, right? That is, it would definitely hurt some but it might...help, right? Gema felt like she could use all the help she could get.

So she spun a few more dials on the Chronoscope until she was sure that she had the month, the day, the minute right. She slid back into the chair one more time.

And she was off.

The journey was much quicker this time. After only a second or so of vertiginous darkness, she found herself once again in that cloakroom. On the wall, she noticed a blue uniform with yellow paint not quite fully scrubbed out of the fabric of one of the legs. She smiled.

She took a few breaths to steady herself, shrugged on one of the non-stained blue uniforms over her jumpsuit, and then moved to open the door.

Once outside, she glided down taupe hallway after taupe hallway, pleased to realize that she still remembered the layout of this larger station so well. She felt herself approaching the hallway she remembered especially well, and her heart started thudding quickly, almost painfully.

This was it.

She darted into one of the empty meeting rooms off the hallway, and stood on her tip toes to look through the glass and wait for it to happen. 

And happen it did. 

A younger, almost laughably naïve-looking Gema bounced down the hallway, carrying a pile of star charts and reference books, as that Catheryn she'd just seen - just spoken to - wandered the other way, humming to herself. Just the sound of it made Gema want to cry. But she kept herself together. This was something she did not want to miss.

Finally, inevitably, the two collided. After a few rushed apologies, they paused for a moment, looking at one another. Catheryn was the first to speak.

"Have we met?" She remembered. Oh god, she remembered. This is what happened when you messed with the fabric of time. Things got messed up. Horribly messed up. Gema wondered what ripple effects her stupid, pointless appearance would have. She hoped that they would still end up on the same mission, that they'd still become friends, that they'd still- And yet, wait a minute. That was what Catheryn had said all those years ago, wasn't it? "Have we met?" She'd thought it was a sort of strange attempt at a pick up line when she'd remembered it later - a failed attempt at a "Come here often?" - but now she understood. 

She couldn't believe it. She'd set out on this stupid mission of hers to try to relive their first meeting but had accidentally actually lived it for the first time. 

"No, I don't think so," she heard past-Gema reply with a small, awkward smile. Present-Gema - or was she future-Gema now? - smiled. 

She felt lucky, suddenly, ridiculously lucky, to have gotten the chance to meet this girl - this strange, tough, resilient wonder of a girl - for the first time not once, but twice. 

She watched as past-Gema and past-Catheryn drifted off towards the mess hall together, but she didn't follow. Instead, she darted back into the cloak room and hopped back into that bizarre silver armchair. 

Maybe, she thought, as she re-adjusted the dials and prepared herself for flight. Maybe, if the universe had been kind enough to let her meet Catheryn for the first time twice, it would be kind enough to bring Catheryn back to her. Maybe. Just maybe.

But today, maybe was enough. 

She hit "GO" - and was gone.


End file.
